Used as a Radio Master flash on-camera the V860II-N can fire and control other V860II-N speedlites off-camera, set to Radio Slave mode, as well as a growing range of Godox studio lights, portable lights, and speedlites.

We won’t know until these get reviewed, but looks like all the boxes are checked. Okay, so you can’t attach an external power pack. With 650 full-power shots available, don’t think that’s really necessary. I’ve done photo shoots using speedlites at 1/4 to 1/2 and barely made it to 600 shots. So yes, I think being purely battery powered will be fine.

As mentioned on the Canon version of this announcement, I don’t think the plastic hotshoe mount is an issue. I’ve always thought the steel, rubber-covered version to be overrated. With the 560EXII I had, I thought it was finicky than a simple plastic knob. I’ve never worried about these knobs breaking either.

I used to be completely against using proprietary batteries. But I’m rethinking that in regards to Godox. I’m cautious to buying proprietary equipment when I’m not sure about the company. But Godox has been coming out with great products and they’ve been showing real polish in their marketing and presence. This makes me feel much more comfortable to invest in their products.

The problem with no external battery port is not that the battery will die, it’s that you can’t take advantage of the basically instant recycle times available with a battery pack. This is a huge problem with these Godox flashes because they will not fire AT ALL unless the flash is fully recycled. What’s worse, if the on-camera master flash isn’t recycled, not only will it not fire, but it will not fire the slave flashes either, even if they are recycled. So really the 860-II is vastly inferior to a 685 with a battery pack as an on-camera master flash.

wonder if these will have the same battery issues as mk1… had one a few months back and the battery started swelling after 10 recharges, up to the point where I was afraid I will not be able to get it out of the flash

We hope that the hot shoe fits right on all Nikon cameras and not only it is secured but also works and does not have loose fit like the V860 (that if I move a fraction of a mm it does not work on my D750)

Hopefully the 2.5 sync port is also to connect a trigger if other triggering system is to be used (very useful).

TTL on the V860 was a bit off but not by much, however, hopefully they fixed that.

So far I never had any problem with any of my batteries (I have 6 of them) so I have to assume that they fixed the earlier problem.

If the reviews are good I will definitely purchase one along with a set of the new 2.4GH receivers for my V850’s and V860.

I don’t know why you’re letting yourself get confused by a poorly written sentence in a review. The features of these flashes are well documented in many places, including the Flash Havoc article that we are commenting on. They have built in radio triggers that work seamlessly with the 685’s, 360II’s, AD600, and X1 transmitter as well as a separate optical mode that can be used along with Nikon CLS if you have some need for mixing them in that way.

Motti, the X1R-N receivers can not control the power of V850 because the V850 don’t have the TTL contacts on the foot. All they have is a single firing pin, so a receiver attached to the flash foot can only fire them.

You can use the V860II to trigger V850’s with attached new XTR-16s receivers, and be able to also control the power remotely. (Also use HSS if you set that manually on the V850).

This is because the XTR-16s have 4 communication pins, so they can communicate remote manual power levels with the flash.
.
As I mentioned previously, its really only with the original V860 the you may need to consider which receiver option is best, because they can do at least remote manual power levels with either the X1R-N receivers or the XTR-16s receivers.

I recently bought v860IIN. Everything works well, except wireless master mode. I cannot fire in ttl mode another flash (metz 58 af-1) placed on X1-N receiver. The second flash works in manual mode. The second flash also works properly in ttl mode when I use X1-N transmitter.

That’s right. Another flash sitting on X1-N receiver fired by the V860II in TTL mode emits only only one weak flash (preflash?) and exposure is almost black. First I suspected that such behavior is caused by my aged metz 58. However the same flash sitting on the same X1-N receiver in exact the same configuration is fired by v860IIN properly in manual mode and also is properly fired by X1-N transmitter. I suspect firmware bug.

If the Godox X1T-N Transmitter is installed in the Nikon camera hot shoe, can it really control the Godox V860IIN off camera all by itself? or does the Godox X1T-N Receiver must be installed in the flash also to be controlled? I thought the receiver was for Nikon flashes only. Most dealers sell the flash and the transmitter as a kit. Please advise, I am confused on this…

I’m having horrible intermittent problems trying to trigger off-camera V860IIn with an on-camera V860IIn, in fact, I can barely get them to fire at all. I just got six of these and they are all behaving the same way.

Another issue, when I set the on-camea flash to not fire it still fires. The only time it wont fire is if I turn off all groups.

@Mark
Sorry to hear about your bad experience with the new V860II and the Nikon D750. I have the D750 and wanted to purchase the V860II to be on camera flash and trigger other flashes, I am going to wait until Godox make things smooth and right. Thank you for your input.

I don’t have the TT685N or V860II-N, though I tried with the AD360II-N as master, and after V13 on the X1R-N receiver I found the TTL is way overexposed. Manual power levels are still working, just the TTL is way out.

So I would think this is an issue with V14 / 15 / 16 on the X1R-N receivers.

I have the same problem. TTL is not working when the SB-910 + X1R-N is being trigger by V860iiN. The image is extremely over exposed and the exposure compensation doesn’t do a thing.

I do weddings, so the point of buying the V860iiN was to trigger my SB-910s during the reception. I can believe they overlooked this problem, a TTL trigger (V860iiN) that does NOT trigger in TTL! I’ll be returning the V860iiN and the X1R.

Oh, I see. They claim that original flashes work with TTL on the X1R. I believe that Canon flashes work much better than the Nikons. I would say that it’s Nikon messing up with the firmware so third party products don’t work well with their products.

Hi Motti,
I have been shooting with the Nikon D810 with the X1T-N transceiver and remote SB-910 with attached X1R-N receiver in TTL or manual mode. It works as advertised, very reliably.
The only issue I found is that using the TT685 or the v860ii as a master unit to control the SB-910 with attached X1R-N leads to overexposed images. This seems to be a issue in the current firmware of either the receiver or the transmitter in the flashes. I am certain that Godox will correct this. In my opinion, it is a minor bug in an overall absolutely excellent flash system.

Hi Ted,
It’s good to know. The V860 (version 1) put on the D750 or D3 works fine as TTL. I will wait a bit until Godox irons their bugs before I go forward. My goal is to have the V860II as my on-camera flash and two V850 and the V860 as off camera flashes.

Right now between bad focus assist of the V860II and some bugs reported on the same flash this will have to wait.

I could use the X1R-N connected to my SB-910 through PC connection and trigger the V860 and V850. I don’t care for TTL so much really. I was hoping that by using the V860II I will avoid the discomfort of cables and triggers stuck to the flash head with velcro (or sits on a bracket and makes it even more cumbersome)

Hi Sandalsfootacious.
I had the same problem but was able to squeeze it back in place and now it seems to sit tight. Had to press pretty hard though.
Must be a weird construction if you hade the same issue with all the other flashes.

Hi, just a little “bug report” after first quick test (Nikon version, current firmware (v2.3)):

When shooting I usually switch forth and back between
(N) normal mode direct on camera
(M) radio master mode

1.) Zoom settings are lost when switching between radio modes (N) and (M): It’s always reset to “manual zoom 24mm”. Really annoying.

2.) Zoom and exposure correction settings are lost when turning off the flash without having taken a photo with the new settings. (Not a big thing but annoying if you optimize settings prior to a planned shooting and turn off the flash…)

3.) Exposure correction for master flash is LINKED between modes (N), (M) etc.
This is quite annoying:
When in normal mode on cam (N) I usually want no exposure compensation.
When in master mode (M) I usually want the master to be at -1.3 EV.

4.) Not a bug but still annoying: Would be nice if you could deactivate certain modes in custom functions. Now you have to cycle through
– Radio Master
– Radio Slave
– Normal on Cam
– IR Master
– IR Slave

2) I ordered some of the V850IIs, not realizing the AF assist lamp stays on a minimum of 10 seconds, and you have to press a button to turn it on…this doesn’t work for me at all as a wedding photographer. The red grid shows up in every image.

I really need an AF assist lamp that will turn on automatically when the camera tries to focus, or at least (most importantly) turn off when the shutter fires. Can anyone confirm that this flash does that, and the AF assist doesn’t just stay on?

I was having so much problem getting the X1Tn and the 860IIn to sync via radio. The way I intended on using it was using a CB mini bracket with the flash almost on axis to the lens, using the X1Tn to trigger it via TTL radio. The connection was really weird in the ways that made me believe the flashes were defective (I got 3 units). The flash would fire intermittently. As soon as it disconnects, I would hold the two units close to one another to confirm settings, hitting the test button constantly while trying to get the flash to fire (it doesn’t).

What I ended up finding out is that there is actually a MINIMUM distance required between the X1Tn and the flash, at about 1 ft. Any closer, none of the changes on the X1T will sync over nor would it fire. I would appreciate it if anyone can confirm this with me.

Firmware uppdate 16 delivers this:
To add the triggering operation at close range: Press the TEST Button to power the transmitter on, holding on until the STATUS indicator lamp blinks for 2 times. Now the wireless remote distance is from 0 to 30 meters.

Thanks for the reply – yes – definitely do – NOT the lightning bolt, but a green (master) screen with the antenna icon on the top left. Only showing ABC. If I scroll past c, it goes back to A. Mine are branded Flashpoints, not godox, but they’re they 860r2 for Nikons, w/ 1.3 firmware. No sign of a D&E in master or slave mode.

I can’t recall what the story is with this now. There were a number of things Godox were about to implement which haven’t eventuated as yet (like cross brand radio slave compatibility like the AD360II now have), but I though the 5 groups where already in the V860II-N.

I have the same thing written in the Godox System Overview Guide and no one has mentioned it there previously either. I’ll change the posts back to 3 groups anyway until I can find out what the story is.

Well, the x1-tN supports D&E, and the little snapin receivers for the older Godox products (the smal receivers that have the rotary dial for group) support A-E & 0-9, but the flashes themselves don’t seem to only have A,B & C. I don’t know why that can’t updated in firmware – seems silly it is the way it is.

I use 1 flash for the background, 1 for key, 1 for fill, and 1 for backlight, so I would definitely take advantage of the extra groups. I can use S1 mode, but not as reliable.

Thanks for this great site, and if anyone else has some thoughts about D&E on these flashes, please chime in.

Ok – So I’m now on my 2nd x1t transceiver, and same results as the first… I see NO auto-focus light being beamed out when I focus! NOTHING. The switch is on, but instead of the expected red light, I get nada.

Hi, has anyone noticed that this flash automatically goes into “TTL BL” mode if you raise or turn the flash head around? There is no option to disable that like the Nikon flashes do, which is quite annoying.

I have a newbie question about remote actions. I own the v860 iin and and old Yongnuo YN685 that doesnt sync with my Nikon 610. If I use one of them bounced on camera hotshoe – will it make the other one fire? which should I hook where? I understand the Yongnuo won’t work through TTL. Thanks

I don’t think the YN685 actually have an optic slave mode, so if you can use the YN685 in manual mode on the camera hotshoe, you could set the V860II to S1 optic slave mode to fire off camera a well.

Unless you need the YN685 for something particular, it would be a lot more practical to trade if for even an inexpensive manual Godox TT600 (which is compatible with the Godox radio system, and V860II).

I was very disappointed to discover that no HSS is possible if you use the 860N on camera as a master. Poring over the manual I discovered that “Multi flash mode cannot be set in high-speed sync mode”, which is a pity since I thought I could spare a transmitter on my Nikons.

Works fine though if you put it above a good old X1T-N. What is funny is that you end up then having double commands, because you stay in the master unit setting. I found it wise to use FEC adjustments only for the “M” on the flash (to adjust its exposure ratio) and to leave all the adjustments for remote flashes to the X1T-N.

I have went thru 3 of these flashes. All of them failing to fire. I shoot weddings and events. All the flashes quit at various times and took anywhere from 2-30 minutes before the flash would fire again. There is no rhyme or reason that I can tell. I read somewhere that Godox has it setup so that it will cause the flash not to fire so the battery does not over heat. Is this correct? Is there a work around? I feel like this flash SHOULD be fine for events/weddings without triggering flash to stop firing. I think this 3rd flash is going to have to go back. I can’t have a flash that I never know when it will or will not work.